Transfer Trauma among Nursing Home Residents: Development of a Composite Measure.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Nursing home (NH)-to-NH transfers place NH residents at risk for developing transfer trauma. We aimed to develop a composite measure of transfer trauma and apply it among those transferring before and during the pandemic.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Cross-sectional cohort analysis of long-stay NH residents with a NH-to-NH transfer. MDS data (2018-2020) were used to create the cohorts. A composite measure of transfer trauma was developed (2018 cohort) and applied to 2019 and 2020 cohorts. We analyzed resident characteristics and conducted logistic regression analyses to compare rates of transfer trauma between periods.

RESULTS

2018: 794 residents transferred; 242 (30.5%) met the criteria for transfer trauma. 2019 and 2020: 750 residents (2019) and 795 (2020) transferred. In 2019 cohort, 30.7% met criteria for transfer trauma and 21.9% in 2020 cohort. During the pandemic, a higher proportion of transferred residents left the facility before the first quarterly assessment. Among residents who stayed in NH for their quarterly assessment, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, residents in 2020 cohort were less likely to experience transfer trauma than those in 2019 cohort (AOR=0.64, 95%CI[0.51, 0.81]). However, residents in 2020 cohort were two times more likely to die (AOR=1.94, 95%CI[1.15, 3.26]) and three times more likely to discharge within 90 days after transfer (AOR=2.86, 95%CI[2.30, 3.56]) compared to those in 2019 cohort.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

These findings highlight how common transfer trauma is after NH-to-NH transfer and the need for further research to mitigate negative outcomes associated with transfer in this vulnerable population.

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [e-mail].